First, a happy tale, as imparted by Jeanine Asche of the San Mateo County Library. Asche works near the Crystal Springs watershed. Earlier this week, she was walking with a colleague during their afternoon break and heard a strange crying sound, which they thought might have been from a hawk.

Asche, however, soon realized that the noise was coming from a storm drain. “Peering over the side, both of us were completely surprised to see a small fawn, about the size of a house cat, looking up at us and crying helplessly,” Asche said.

Jeanine Asche

Fawn comes up from the storm drain, with a little help.

She called animal control, but they told her that it might be a while before an officer could respond. So Asche walked to a nearby state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection station, and four firefighters — Scott Ernest, Brian Robbins, Carlos Lomeli and John Riddell — immediately geared up to help. Two San Mateo County sheriff’s deputies happened by the scene and also offered their assistance.

By then, the frightened deer had retreated farther into the storm drain. After some discussion, the firefighters decided to use their hose to push the deer through the storm drain, straight into an animal control net held by a sheriff’s deputy.

“Much to my initial dismay, the animal control officer then carried the fawn up the hill and set it under a tree,” Asche said. The officer explained that it was common deer behavior for a doe to leave her fawn for as much as 24 hours to look for food and that the fawn would stay put awaiting its mother’s return.

“Let’s hope so, but at least two caring sheriff’s deputies, four firefighters and two librarians did what we could to give it a fighting chance,” Asche said. “In San Mateo County, our public servants are there for everyone, wildlife included.”

But now we’ll hear from Sara Lopus, who is studying for her doctorate in demography at UC Berkeley. Lopus said she and her dogs were attacked Thursday by a deer, this one distinctly larger than a house cat, on Capistrano Avenue near Colusa Avenue in North Berkeley.

“The deer charged out of a side yard and ran for the dogs,” Lopus said. The animal was kicking the dogs, so Lopus fought back by shoving and kicking the deer. Lopus said she shielded her dogs by getting on the ground and huddling over them.

Sara Lopus

Sara Lopus’ dog, its paws covered after one of them was damaged in an attack by a deer.

“The deer ripped my shirt down and kicked me and stomped on me,” Lopus said. “I shoved it off of me and tried to run away with the dogs, but the deer chased after us and kept lunging at them.”

A woman and her daughter heard Lopus’ screams and got in between the hapless student and the animal. Lopus suffered some bruises. One of her dogs had the pads on one of its paws torn in half, possibly as a result of Lopus dragging it away from the deer.